The Jedi Enclave, Dantooine, A Day After Last

[suitably_heroic]

Meetra	"The Masters told me to meet them in the courtyard," Meetra said. She glanced at Atton. "I think it's best if I go on alone." He wouldn't like it, but this... this was Jedi business, and despite the fact that her crew was now largely made up of Force users, she knew well enough that that didn't make them Jedi. Not yet.
Atton	"Not that I want to hear Jedi Masters rambling on in Jedi speak," Atton said slowly, "But are you sure?" He shot Bao-Dur a glance, but the Zabrak just shrugged.
Meetra	"Yes," she assured him, smiling faintly. "We need the Hawk to be ready to go more than we need you to grump through this meeting."
Atton	"I don't grump," Atton informed her primly. "...But fine. I need to take another poke at those engines anyway. Think HK-47's been messing around." That barvy droid got his madness on everything.
Meetra	Meetra shook her head with a slight smile. Then she slid past them, through the entrance into the Jedi Enclave. It was looking better than it had when she had left it. Though plants were still growing all over it, attempting to reclaim it to nature, some of the worst damage had been fixed, the debris cleared. Apparently Vrook and Zez-Kai Ell had been busy while she was away. She walked past the large centerpiece where a large tree had once stood, stretching out and through the ceiling. Into a hallway, at the end of which laid the courtyard.
Kreia	Once both the Zabrak and the fool had cleared away, Kreia slipped out of her hiding place. She stepped through the entrance to the Enclave and stared out at the remains of that old, familiar tree. "It has been some time," she said quietly. She sat down gingerly on the stone at the foot of the tree. "The years have not been kind to us both, it seems," she said. "But perhaps now, they will see the truth at last." The Exile had given her hope. Foolish hope, perhaps. But it was a hope that stemmed from a self that existed long ago, before the scars had found their way into her heart. For that, she was grateful.
Meetra	Meetra found the three Jedi Masters standing in the center of the courtyard, facing away from her. They were dressed in full Jedi robes, their lightsabers in hand. Curious.
Jedi	"But perhaps that is for the best," Zez-Kai Ell said quietly - but just loud enough for her to overhear. Noticing her presence, they turned around. "We were wondering when you would arrive," Kavar said. "This moment has taken some time to reach us, and I imagine you have many questions." Beside him, Vrook looked rather less at peace. "Or perhaps you are here to take revenge," he snapped.
Meetra	Once again, she wondered why it was that she called up so much hostility in Vrook. But it was not as important as the task ahead. "I need to know what you spoke of when you decided to cast me out of the Order," she said.
Jedi	"You already know the answer," said Vrook. "You've noticed it in those who travel with you."
Meetra	Meetra's eyebrow shot up. "Could someone just give me a straight answer?" she said. She'd been spending too much time with Atton, she could tell. But she couldn't find it in her to feel bad about it.
Jedi	Vrook's attitude was not making this any easier; Zez-Kai Ell thought it was prudent to take over before the old Jedi Master caused more trouble than they needed. "Have you noticed that when you act, others follow?" he said. "Those that travel with you--" Kavar added. "...They follow you. Without question. Without hesitation." "Against their instincts, and sometimes against their sense," Vrook snapped. "It is because you are a leader," Kavar said, stepping in quickly, "But that still fails to grasp the meaning of what I'm trying to tell you."
Meetra	Somehow, she thought Atton, at least, would have something to say about that. Still, the implications were... unpleasant. "Are you saying I'm controlling them?"
Jedi	"It is not an easy thing to explain," Vrook said. "Surely you are familiar with Force bonds." She hadn't forgotten that much of her training, had she? "It is the bond that develops between apprentice and master, when one truly understands another. It is developed over time, through understanding of each other. Yet you do it so easily, and we do not know why." Kavar cleared his throat. They... were not explaining this well, were they? "You make connections through the Force, and it resonates in those who travel with you. The resonance is even greater when they, too, are Force sensitive." "Your actions affect others more than you know," Zez-Kai Ell added. "You draw others to you, especially those who are strong in the Force." "When you suffer, their spirit echoes it. And when they are in pain, their pain becomes yours," Kavar said.
Meetra	Meetra felt her blood starting to run cold. Had she changed her companions so much? Had she, unknowingly, pushed them to become something they were not? Something more in tune with what she was, what she wanted? "How did this happen?" she asked.
Jedi	"We do not know," Kavar admitted. At least she seemed to be feeling the weight of this now, as she should. As they all had. "But it is not the first time you have felt the weight of so many lives." "And that," Zez-Kai Ell said quietly, "Is why the Mandalorian Wars echo within you still."
Meetra	It all started to pour down the hill-- down to one conclusion. She blanched. "That is why you're saying you're not responsible for my loss."
Jedi	"We did not cut you off from the Force," Vrook said - pointedly. "You were merely deafened to it, because of the last battle of the Mandalorian Wars." She wondered why he was not fond of her? Look at what she had done. Look at what she was. "The screams of countless thousands, Jedi and Mandalorian, crushed by the planet's gravity, annihilated," Zez-Kai Ell said. Somehow his quiet was more grave than Vrook's accusations. "Their lives will scream across the surface of that dead planet," Kavar said. "And within you. To hear the Force over that pain... it is not possible. It was too much for any Jedi to endure... and it is a wonder that you did not die there when thousands perished, all those you had fought and struggled with." He met her eyes. "You cut yourself off, because you had to if you were to survive. You had hints of it in the war on Dxun. Malachor was simply the final blow."
Kreia	Kreia had long since learned how to extend her senses - to be blind only in her physical self. She could hear every word, and every emotion punctuating it. Every scrap of fear and anger in their words bashed away at her hope, but she held on to it. She had fought decades to make them see.
Jedi	"You were deafened," said Vrook.
Kreia	"At last, you could hear," Kreia whispered softly.
Jedi	"You were broken," said Kavar.
Kreia	"You were whole," Kreia murmured.
Jedi	"You were blinded," Zez-Kai Ell said.
Kreia	"And at last," Kreia said to the dead stone before her, "You saw."
Jedi	"When you returned to us, we saw what had happened," Vrook said. He was oblivious to the presence of another in the ruins. "You carry all those deaths at Malachor within you, and it has left a hole, a hunger that cannot be filled." "In you," Kavar said, "We saw a wound in the Force." He took no pleasure in telling her this... or in its consequences. Doubly so for Zez-Kai Ell, who added quietly, "In you, we saw the end of the Force."
Meetra	This was all a lot to swallow. An uneasy feeling settled in Meetra's stomach. "My connection to the Force is even stronger than before," she pointed out. What they said couldn't be true.
Jedi	Still, she didn't see it. Vrook's aggravation was clear. "Yes, you can still feel the Force," he said. "But you cannot feel yourself. You are a cipher, forming bonds, leeching the life of others, siphoning their will and dominating them. It is the teaching of these new Sith, to feed on others, on other Force sensitives. They are symptomatic of the wound in the Force." Of her. "You are a breach that must be closed. You transmit your pain, your suffering through the Force." They had come here to end the hegemony of the Sith, and they knew there was only one way to do so. "Within you, we see something worse than merely the teachings of the Sith. What you carry may mean the death of the Force... and the death of the Jedi." And for that, they could not stand. They would not stand.
Meetra	She was barely parsing any of this. The anger, the hostility they showed towards her - some in their tone, some in their words... she couldn't understand it. A siphon? That's why I didn't feel the Force again until I met Atton on Peragus, she thought, because at least that part she could process. "But I am stronger," she said. "Stronger than I ever was." And the Force was there, like a beating heart, not dying at all but thriving.
Jedi	"So you think," Vrook snapped. "It is not the strength of a Jedi you feel." Zez-Kai Ell sounded... he sounded resigned. "He's right," he said. "It's... all the death you've caused to get here. You feed on it, and you get stronger. You're like Malachor... it's in you now, it's what you are." Only now did he find it in him to meet Meetra's eyes. "You must have noticed as you fought through all these planets, killing hundreds - only to become more and more powerful. Why do you think that was?" "But what's worse," Kavar interjected, "is that bonding you have. It hasn't gone away. It's gotten stronger, and the more attachments you form, the more you draw others to you." "And that," Vrook said at last, "is why you are a threat to us all." Those last words hung in the air like ferrocrete.
Kreia	Outside, Kreia took a deep breath. She let her mind wander, touching upon each of the Force signatures that dwelled on the Ebon Hawk. Lingered over the Exile's Force sensitive disciples. She touched Mical's mind. "You know what the choice is," she said. "If you don't warn them, then the Republic will fall. All those countless lives - innocent lives."
Mical	Mical felt the voice glide over his mind. "Or the one," he whispered.
Jedi	"What if other Jedi went to war as you did, suffered the same events, and emerged as you did?" Vrook demanded. "What if there was a crucible that trained such Jedi to consume and kill?!" "For you, Malachor was that crucible," Zez-Kai Ell said. "What's worse is that these Sith we face, I fear they have learned the lesson of Malachor far too well," Kavar said. Now the fear was tangible even in his tone. "It is what allows them to prey on Force users, to become stronger when Force sensitives are near." "Somehow, they have learned their hunger from you," Vrook snapped. "And so you have brought about the end of the Jedi, and perhaps all knowledge of the Force." His mouth set into a thin line. "But that is of no consequence. Your ability to make such connections, such bonds, so easily is why you cannot remain."
Kreia	The last breath of hope left Kreia like a sigh: it rushed out of her softly, gently. Betrayal was no stranger to her, but an old friend. She almost welcomed it. She rose and let the anger - protective anger, which curdled with righteousness - take hold of the newly-opened hole in her self. She let it fuel her stride as she walked down the hallway, into the courtyard.
Visas	"...and so you wait. As a shadow." Visas' voice was quiet.
Kreia	Kreia's attention turned to the side. So that was where the Miraluka had been lurking all this time. It was no matter. There were more important things to deal with. "Yes, we are alike in that way, blinded one."
Visas	"I would have thought that you would walk with her amongst the Jedi," Visas said. Her voice gained strength. "But that is not the way of the Sith, is it?"
Kreia	"Do not speak to me of the ways of the Sith," Kreia snarled. She reached into the Force and found Visas' throat without effort, lifting her high towards the ceiling. "You, of all, have no conception of what it means to be Sith." Even the fool understood it better than the blinded Miraluka. She dropped Visas' unconscious body to the floor. This had gone on long enough.
Jedi	"You are a threat to all living creatures, and all who feel the Force," Vrook said to Meetra. He had noticed nothing of what had happened; he was focused on what would come next. "You will lead the Sith here, and that we cannot allow," Zez-Kai Ell said. "Our judgement remains, Exile," Vrook said. "You must leave... and you must leave without your tie to the Force. It is a punishment reserved for only a few, and only when necessary. But we have the power to cut you off from the Force, and it must be done." "Forgive us," Kavar said. He was rather less enthused about this than Vrook was. "But it is necessary."
Meetra	Meetra bit down on her lower lip. She had no idea what to make of all of this - and it sapped her defiance, leaving an undercurrent of unease, of fear. "Stop this," she said-- and that was all she managed, for the Jedi Masters reached for her, and then there was but sensation as they touched something deep inside of her and pulled.
Jedi	Only now did Vrook's tone soften. "Do not be afraid," he said. "You shall feel no pain, but this must be done. As long as you feel the Force, you are a danger to those around you."
Kreia	"Enough." Kreia dispelled their hold on the Exile with a simple wave of her hand. Meetra crashed to the floor immediately, her energy spent - simply resisting their efforts. With another wave, Kreia cast all three Jedi Masters against the rock wall at once. "Step away from her," she snapped, and reached up to brush the hood away from her face. Vrook scrambled to his feet and rushed at her. She simply batted him away again as if he were nothing. "I said step away," she said. "She has brought truth, and you condemn it? The arrogance!" They were pitiful. Scared, pitiful creatures, scrambling for anything but their own responsibilities. The realities. "You will not harm her," Kreia snarled. "You will not harm her ever again!"
Kavar	Kavar stumbled unsteadily to his feet. "You," he stammered. "But I thought you'd died in the Mandalorian Wars!"
Kreia	Kreia's upper lip curled. "Die?" she said. "No. Became stronger? Yes."
Jedi	"Is this your new master, Exile?" Vrook panted. "If so, then you follow Revan's path. Her teachings will cause you to fall as surely as he did." "She is difficult to see," Zez-Kai Ell murmured quietly. "She's like a shadow of the Exile." He reached for his lightsaber and lit it, twin blades sliding out with a simple snap-hiss. "We sought to lure the Sith out, and now they have come to us."
Kreia	"How could you ever hope to know the threat you face, when you have never walked in the dark places of the galaxy - faced war and death on such a scale?" Kreia asked. "If you had traveled far enough, rather than waiting for the echo to reach you, perhaps you would have seen it for what it was." She turned to one, at first. "Did you not hear its call on Dantooine, Vrook, on its scarred surface and in the minds of its settlers? I have endured your corruption of my other students - you will not have this one." She turned again. "And you, Kavar, so close to the call of Dxun, tell me - did you not feel what poured from the moon, what had taken place there?" She scoffed. "And Zez-Kai Ell, to hide upon Nar Shaddaa, yet blind yourself to all what happens there. So close to understanding the Force... so close to giving it up." And with that, she took a breath. The fools. "There is a place in the galaxy where the dark side of the Force runs strong. It is something of the Sith, but it was fueled by war. It corrupts all that walk on its surface, drowns them in the power of the dark side - it corrupts all life. And it feeds on death." She stepped forward, past the unconscious body of the Exile. "Revan knew of such places, and the power in making them. They can be used to break the will of others... of Jedi, promising them power, and turning them to the dark side." She looked at Vrook. "Did you never wonder how Revan corrupted so many of the Jedi, so much of the Republic, so quickly? The Mandalorian Wars were a series of massacres that masked another war, a war of conversion. Culminating in a final atrocity that no Jedi could walk away from..." She glanced at the body by her feet. "...save one." Kreia's expression softened. "That is what I sought to understand. How one could turn away from such power, give up the Force... and still live." She kneeled down by Meetra's side. "But I see what happened now," she said softly, to the Exile. "It is because you were afraid." She touched Meetra's head. Once. Then she got up. "As you would pass judgement on her, I have come to pass judgement on you all."
Jedi	Each of the Jedi had activated their lightsaber now. The blades swirled through the air as their masters settled into the opening stances of their preferred lightsaber forms.
Kreia	So disappointing. They still didn't understand. "Do you wish to feel the teachings of the Mandalorian Wars?" Kreia asked, lifting her chin. "Of all wars, of all tragedies that scream across the galaxy?" She reached. "Let me show you - you, who have forever seen the galaxy through the Force. See it through the eyes of the Exile." She pulled.
Jedi	And something in each one gave away. That link, that brilliant shining thing that tapped them straight into the Force, into all living things... ...it ripped out of them. It was too much of a shock. They could not take it. It stopped their hearts in their chests, the firing of synapses in their minds. It took their souls, left their bodies lifeless. They fell.
Kreia	Of course they did. For they were weak - weak in the ways the Exile was strong. Kreia touched her one more time. Her greatest student - soon, she would suffer her last lessons. A fragile affection filled Kreia's chest now, where the anger had been. No, not affection, but love. She stepped into the hallway. "It is done," she called. "She is no more."
Handmaiden	The Handmaiden strode into the compound, her face an unreadable mask. She did not trust Kreia, of course. But no sane person would.
Kreia	"Take me to Atris," Kreia ordered her. "She will have the strength to do what the Jedi Council could not." She did not need the Handmaiden to chain her for this. She simply followed... out of the compound... away from the Exile. Away from the lifeless husks of the cowardly Jedi Council, who never had the strength to do what was necessary-- not one moment of their lives.
Mira	Aboard the Ebon Hawk, something lurched painfully in Mira's stomach... then turned inwards, leaving a jagged ache running through her. Oh no. What are we going to do?! If we don't stop her, everyone... everywhere... they're going to lose their lives. She didn't know how she knew that. Nor that the Exile could hear her. But she was sure of it.
Mical	If we lose her, it will be my failing... it is the failing of the Jedi who followed Revan... it is a failing of their teaching... Mical ached. And she heard him, too.
Visas	Visas knelt on the floor of her quarters and quavered. Soon your ship will come, my Master. I will bring her before you, but I will not let you have her. Soon your ship shall come from that which made you... Her voice was audible, as well.
Bao-Dur	But it was Bao-Dur, rock steady Bao-Dur, who was certain. Who was so very sure. I know you can hear me. I have always known. It is why I followed you. He took a deep breath and called out to her. I have destroyed planets for you, General. But now, this once, if we could save something in this galaxy... He shut his eyes. I need to do this, or I will die inside. Like I died at Malachor V.
Meetra	And in the courtyard of the Jedi Enclave, the Exile rose.

[[ well, it took me four hours, but there it is: the best scene from 'knights of the old republic 2'. nfb, nfi, ooc-okay, and my whimpered pawing at every character involved comes free ]]